Irish Performance of the Week - 14 October 2026
The highlight of the greyhound racing in Ireland last week were the semi-final races of the Bar 1 Betting Laurels at Curraheen Park.
Laurels semi-final pair clock identical times
The Bar 1 Racing Irish Laurels got to the semi-final stage at Cork on Saturday night with Droopys Unreal and Slick Sanctuary sharing the POW honours with an identical 28.20 time. Although they were in front on the clock, it is still Ballymac Setanta who is the favourite to lift the prize at the weekend.
Droopys Unreal has only made 11 career starts and will head into the final still a puppy, so his march to the closing stage for Ian Reilly has been sensational. Karol Ramsbottom's Slick Sanctuary does not have many more miles on the clock himself with only 18 races under his belt. The pair take on the 2025 beaten favourite for the final in what looks a cracker of a race.
Waitingforastar picked up his semi-final of the Yvonne Barry Track Bookmakers Open 600 in fine style at Shelbourne. He joined Magical Major at the top of the tree in terms of times run over that distance this year The classy tracker was fourth in his semi-final of the BOYLE Sports Irish Greyhound Derby but has made this decider.
The youngest on the list this week by quite some way is Grouchos Scarlet. It was only the second start of her life, knocked over on the first of those, so it was good to see that there was no adverse effect from that just eight days on. It was an A5 contest on a track that has been running very quick but at the same time, it was a smart time for one so inexperienced.
Only one dog has gone quicker over 550y at Limerick this year than Sonsofardcroney did last week. It was his fifth win from 13 starts, stepped up to 570y on just his second career run. He has been sent over six bends once when not beating a rival home but he shapes as if it will be worth another try in the future.
